Friend of Pistorius Talks Gunplay Cover-Up at Trial

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Oscar Pistorius sits in the dock as he listens to cross questioning about the events surrounding the shooting death of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, in court during the second week of his trial in Pretoria, South Africa, Tuesday, March 11, 2014. Pistorius is charged with the shooting death of Steenkamp, on Valentines Day in 2013.

The friend of Oscar Pistorius who was identified by witnesses as being with the athlete on two occasions when a gun was shot in public is testifying at Pistorius' murder trial on Tuesday.

Darren Fresco was asked by Pistorius to take the blame, a previous witness testified, when a gun the Olympic runner was handling fired under a table in a restaurant in early 2013, about a month before Pistorius shot dead girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

Fresco was also present, another witness said, when Pistorius shot his gun out the sunroof of a car after an altercation with traffic police in 2012.

Pistorius is on trial charged with murder for the shooting death of Steenkamp on Valentine's Day last year. He also faces firearm charges for those two gun incidents.

The chief lawyer defending Pistorius at his murder trial also questioned the methods of the pathologist who conducted an autopsy on the girlfriend who was fatally shot by the double-amputee runner in his home.

Prof. Gert Saayman testified for a second day about the gunshot wounds suffered by Reeva Steenkamp when Pistorius opened fire through a toilet cubicle door at his home on Feb. 14 last year.

Saayman has asserted that, judging by the food contents in her stomach, Steenkamp probably last ate no more than two hours before her death. Steenkamp was shot after 3 a.m., meaning she must have eaten after 1 a.m. Pistorius has said the couple was in the bedroom by 10 p.m.

Lawyer Barry Roux asked Saayman what medical texts he had consulted in reaching his conclusion about the food, and said he wanted to see them. Saayman said his findings were a "synthesis" of his own professional experiences and observations in addition to consultation of past studies.

Saayman also said the amount of urine in Steenkamp's bladder at the time of her death amounted to the rough equivalent of a teaspoon. The evidence could relate to theories about whether Steenkamp had gotten up in the middle of the night to go to the toilet, as Pistorius contends, or was there following a loud argument with the runner, as the prosecution has suggested.

The pathologist said he had conducted between 10,000 and 15,000 autopsies over 30 years.